Thursday, October 31, 2013

Good Lighting Results in Excellent Portrait Photography

If you want to turn pro as a photographer, portrait photography is one of the most requested services. Even if you don’t, it is important to know how to take a good portrait photo. Getting the right lighting is everything in this case. There are a few common setups used for portrait photography and they are detailed below.

1. Loop lighting

Loop lighting

This is one of the most common ways of lighting someone for a portrait as it tends to work well with most types of faces. All you need is a key light positioned to the side of the subject and hair and background lights placed opposite of the key light. You will also need to place a fill light on the other side of the room, but the same side as the key light compared to the subject. However, you must make sure that it is not placed in such a way that it will cast its own shadow into the picture.

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2. Rembrandt lighting

Rembrandt lighting

This is also called 45-degree lighting and its main characteristic is that one side of the subject is highlighted more than the other, particularly the cheek. In order to achieve this, all of the lights stay as with loop lighting except for the key light which is placed almost completely to the side of the subject instead of at an angle.

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3. Split lighting

Split lighting

This type takes the concept of Rembrandt lighting even further by focusing almost entirely on one half of the face, giving it a slimming effect. Again, the lights stay in the same place except for the key light which now passes the side of the subject and goes back a little further.

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If you ever need professional equipment such as a photography light box, you can visit YescomUSA. At YescomUSA, you will find everything you need in order to get started.